8 sites are of Buddhist importance. These sites display ancient rock art including images. During excavation, researchers found remnant of mosques, forts, gallows, tunnels and other buildings of Ameer Taimur period.

By Megha Singh -Dec 9, 2016

Archaeologists unearth 30000-year-old 110 historic sites in Pakistan

Archaeologists have unearthed 30000-year-old relics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Of newly discovered 110 sites, some are related to Buddism. According to reports, a team of archaeologists along with support from Political Administration and Pakistan Army have discovered the sites.

The pre-historic sites are of Buddhist, Islamic and British era. 8 sites are of Buddhist importance. These sites display ancient rock art including images. During excavation, researchers found remnant of mosques, forts, gallows, tunnels and other buildings of Ameer Taimur period.

The political administration has summoned another team of scientists to further study the art form. Apparently, the study will be extended to other tehsils of Tirrah and Barra with an aim of finding more such sites which will tell us more about the ancient times, their beliefs and mythology.

“These rock carvings were etched around 30,000 years ago,” Abdul Samad, Director K-P archaeology and Museums, who has conducted the survey, told media on Thursday.

It was also revealed that the political administration has no funds to preserve such relics and they are prone to vandalism. Due to lack of funds, they cannot develop these sites to attract tourists and generate revenue from these sites.

“We have no such staff or department to work for preservation of archaeological wealth of the agency,” said political agent Khyber Agency Khalid Mehmood.

He further added that search operations were conducted during British rule but they failed as they did not spend enough to conduct deep excavation which would have led the researchers to these sites.

Khyber Agency revealed that the Buddhist Gandharian civilisation lived 30000 years ago in the region which belongs to Pakistan and Afghanistan at present.